 DistroWatch Weekly |
| DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 1029, 24 July 2023 |
Welcome to this year's 30th issue of DistroWatch Weekly!
At the beginning of the month we reported the Murena organization was launching the Fairphone 4 with a de-Googled version of Android for North American markets. This week Jesse Smith takes one of these repairable Fairphone devices, paired with Murena's operating system, for a test drive and reports on his experiences with the phone. Then, in our Questions and Answers column we talk about sandboxing options available for portable packages such as Snap and Flatpak and share tools used to lock down portable applications. Do you limit the access of Snap or Flatpak applications on your machines? Let us know if you lock down these portable packages in this week's Opinion Poll. In our News section this week we touch upon a plan which would allow Redox OS to borrow drivers from Linux (and other operating system) to allow the young operating system to work with more equipment. Meanwhile we talk about Debian publishing updated install media which include bug fixes for Debian 12. We're also pleased to share the releases of the past week and list the torrents we are seeding. We wish you all a wonderful week and happy reading!
Content:
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| Feature Story (by Jesse Smith) |
Murena on Fairphone 4 in North America
During the first week of July we reported Murena had launched a new mobile phone in the North American market. Specifically, the Fairphone 4 is now being sold in the United States.
The Fairphone 4, which retails for $629 USD, is intended to be upgradeable and repairable. It's trivial to pop off the back of the phone and replace the battery, swap out the SIM card, and upgrade the storage. Armed with nothing more than a tiny screwdriver we should also be able to replace (or upgrade) any malfunctioning parts and Fairphone sells spare parts through their on-line store. the idea is to make it easy for people to repair their phones or replace batteries rather than purchase a whole new device.
What Murena brings to the table is a de-Googled operating system (called /e/OS) which removes all the proprietary applications and telemetry usually associated with Android and replaces these pieces with open source, privacy-respecting equivalents. Murena also supplies it's own cloud services (based on Nextcloud), offers a one-tap VPN service, and offers anonymous access to both the Google Play and F-Droid software repositories. In short, Murena's operating system offers all the same applications and services that people expect from Android without all of the spying, advertisements, and proprietary components associated with most Android devices.
The combination results in an environmentally-friendly, repairable smart phone which should be more secure and respect user privacy without sacrificing much in terms of cost, functionality, or convenience. I wanted to give this platform a test run to see how it would hold up and Murena kindly offered to let me borrow a device.
What is in the box?
Inside the box I received from Murena there was, of course, the Fairphone 4, a quick-start guide, and a little booklet which talked about Murena's cloud services and how to migrate to them from other providers. There were also some stickers and an offer to send old phones back to Fairphone to be recycled. There are no charge cables or USB cables in the box.
The items in my Fairphone 4 box
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The Fairphone 4 has a pretty solid set of specifications. The hardware includes a 64-bit octo-core processor running at 2.2GHz. Fairphone 4 can ship with 6GB or 8GB of RAM along with 128GB or 256GB of storage. The device I was test driving had the lower specifications for memory and storage. 20GB of the storage space was set aside for the operating system, leaving me with about 108GB of free space.
The phone offers 5G networking and is carrier unlocked, making it portable between services. Murena is reportedly confirmed compatible with T-mobile, Mint mobile, Speed Talk, and a handful of others in the United States and may be compatible with other networks. The phone offers eSIM and an expansion SIM port along with a microSD slot for additional storage. The device has a replaceable battery and, with a tiny screwdriver, we can swap out other parts too.
The phone, the battery, and the rear panel
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The Fairphone includes front and rear facing cameras (48 megapixels and 25 megapixels) weighs about 225 grams and has a 6.3 inch screen with a resolution of 2340x1080 pixels. The device can be charged or connected to a computer via a USB-C cord. The phone cannot charge from a wireless station.
At the time of writing, the Fairphone 4 is available in the USA, but not yet for sale in Canada.
Unlike most phones I've used recently, the Fairphone places its volume and power buttons down the right side of the device rather than dividing them to either side.
Early impressions
Booting the Fairphone the first time brings up a configuration wizard. The wizard walks us through a series of steps such as enabling accessibility options (changing the font size, screen resolution, and magnification). We're also asked to pick our language from a list, select our time zone, and set the clock. We have the option of connecting to local wireless networks.
The wizard asks if we'd like to enable location data for applications. We're also given the chance to enable a fingerprint locks or a PIN to protect our device.
One feature I had not encountered previously was the option to use 2-button, 3-button, or Gestures for navigation. A little animation plays demonstrating what this means. When 3-button navigation is enabled we see three buttons across the bottom of the display (Back, Home, Apps). The 2-button option appears to show just Back and Home. When Gestures are selected then no buttons are shown and we instead use swiping motions on the screen to navigate between windows and tasks. Gestures are a central theme of UBports and have been popularized by recent versions of iOS.
The final screen of the wizard offers to create a Murena cloud account or sign into an existing account. I'll talk about the cloud services available to us later in this review.
Murena 1.12 -- The home screen with application launchers
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Default applications and settings
Murena ships with a pretty familiar line-up for applications. On the home screen we find a phone dialing app, a text messaging app, a web browser, and a camera. We're also given a calendar, calculator, clock, and an address book. There is a file browser, photo gallery viewer, and an e-mail client. Browsing further we find a map/GPS application, audio recorder, a note taking application, and a music player. There is a settings panel, and a task tracker.
These apps all worked well for me. They all seem to be stable, well organized, and fairly simple to use.
Murena 1.12 -- Exploring the pull-down menu and quick settings
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The Settings panel is a mixed experience, in my opinion. The operating system offers a lot of settings, providing us with the ability to tweak almost every aspect of the platform. However, this means there are a huge number of items to browse through in order to find what we want. There is a search function, but it sometimes returns multiple items, which doesn't always help. For instance, let's say we want to disable vibrations and tapping sounds when we press buttons. Most of the settings to do this are predictably found under the Sound page of the Settings panel. However, if we want to disable feedback vibrations when we type that leads us into the System screen, then to Languages & Input, then to On-screen keyboard, select a keyboard layout, then Preferences. That's a lot of screens to just to get the phone to stop vibrating after I already turned off vibrations under the Sound page.
Murena 1.12 -- The settings panel with default light theme
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The software centre
Murena's software centre is called the App Lounge. It has a modern look and feel, not unlike Google's Play Store or GNOME Software in its style. Featured items are shown on the front page and we can tap buttons to browse categories or perform text searches. There is also a tab for updates which shows new versions of available packages.
Murena 1.12 -- Selecting the KDE Connect software in the App Lounge
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The App Lounge connects to both the Google Play Store and the F-Droid open source software repository. The first time we launch App Lounge we can select whether to use our Google account to access Google Play Store packages or we can access the Play Store anonymously. When we are looking at detailed descriptions of applications, items in the Play Store are shown with a publisher name while items from F-Droid are marked as such. This helps us verify the origins of software. Each app is given a user rating indicating its popularity and a privacy rating indicating its tendency to track the user and phone home.
I like the App Lounge and find it both responsive and reliable in the current version (1.12) of /e/OS.
Special privacy features
Murena places a focus on privacy. By default their mobile operating system ships with a privacy widget which is displayed on the screen to the left of the home screen. This screen shows us privacy options with toggle switches. The three key privacy toggles are "block trackers", "fake location", and "hide IP address". The block trackers option attempts to thwart tracking modules built into applications we might install from the App Lounge. The fake location tool will report a made up location to applications requesting our position. The option to hide our IP causes traffic to be routed through the Tor network.
Murena 1.12 -- Viewing account storage usage and privacy toggles
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Along with these higher-level privacy tools there is a module in the Settings panel which provides more information and some flexibility for these features. We can see which apps are trying to track us, for example, and block application access to certain resources. This module will also help us try to select from which country our IP address should appear to be.
The toggle switches are pretty easy to use and, while I would like to see an easier way to identify which applications were trying to track us rather than just how many trackers were blocked, I feel like these are all welcome privacy features.
Murena 1.12 -- Using a fake location and seeing it reflected in the weather widget
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Cloud features and file sync
Murena offers optional, cloud-based services to help users migrate away from the Apple and Google ecosystems. When our phone is signed into a Murena account it automatically synchronizes files, photos, contacts, notes, mail, and calendar appointments. (We can turn off synchronization for specific items in the Settings panel.) This allows us to share a calendar with all our mobile devices and with desktop applications such as Thunderbird. We can also synchronize files and contacts with any device which has a Nextcloud client application installed.
Murena offers a web portal where we can sign into their cloud services to see files, contacts, and notes which have been uploaded from our phone. Their Nextcloud-based service also has an on-line copy of OnlyOffice to help us work on documents and spreadsheets.
The Murena cloud services web interface
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I like the way the on-line web service is set up and found it easy to navigate. It's also nice to have tasks and calendar items automatically synced to my desktop machine so I do not need to pick up my phone to see what is coming up later in the day on my calendar.
Other observations
The Fairphone is listed as being compatible with a handful of American cell networks. It can work with other networks too. I was able to test and confirm the device works on the Telus/Koodo in Canada, for example. I was able to send texts, make phone calls, and use mobile data. It was a smooth experience with /e/OS.
The Fairphone 4 is highly responsive and its interface is snappy. I like how quickly it boots, launches applications, and performs tasks. It is a slick device and I enjoy its performance.
I could not find a way to disable the screenshot shutter sound. The camera application has a toggle to turn off the shutter noise, but it doesn't apply to screenshots. I looked up how-tos on this topic since my other phones haven't made noises when taking screenshots once shutter sounds were disabled. From what I can find, the option to toggle shutter sounds is vendor-specific and the only way to work around it on /e/OS seems to be installing a third-party screenshot tool. This is the first phone I've run into with this quirk and I'm not a fan of the sound effect having no clear toggle to disable it.
The Fairphone 4 is larger than most other smartphones I have used over the years. For example, it's close to a centimetre wider, a few millimetres thicker, and around two centimetres taller than my Galaxy S9. This might be beneficial if someone is looking for a larger screen and the phone still fits fairly well in my pocket. However, my thumb (which can roam over the screens of most of my past phones) can't reach all the corners of the Fairphone. This makes it a little less comfortable for me to use one-handed, but easier to use two-handed as I have long fingers and there is more space between on-screen elements.
One of the few issues I had with the Fairphone 4 was that it is unable to recharge on a wireless charging station. I find the charge port is typically the first component to fail on my phones and it is too easy for a USB cord to pop out during the night, so I mostly use wireless charging these days. I figured I'd adjust my routine with the Fairphone and plug it into my computer via a USB-C cord to charge it while working. The phone has a battery than can perform light work for around two days so I wasn't concerned about it needing to juice up for long periods of time.
However, I found the Fairphone was unable to draw enough power from my computer's USB ports to recharge. My S9 and Pinephone can recharge quickly using the same ports, but the Fairphone was unable to draw enough power and I watched its battery very slowly drain even when it was plugged in. This happened even with all apps closed. I next tried to enable the battery saving mode, but it's disabled in the Settings panel.
Eventually, I had to buy a charging block and plug the Fairphone into a wall socket using a USB-C cable in order to give it enough current to recharge. This was the one notable inconvenience of my trial and not a big deal, it's just outside of my usual experience with my past three devices.
Conclusions
I really like what Murena is trying to do with their focus on open source software and privacy. They make an unusually polished, de-Googled experience which is still compatible in virtually every way with the existing Android ecosystem. The Fairphone is a great idea, in my opinion. Too many phones get thrown away these days due to dead batteries or a malfunctioning component. The Fairphone addresses this problem really well by making it easy to pop open the device and replace a component at a reasonable price.
Often times devices and operating systems which exist outside the mainstream struggle to be polished, performant, or to be compatible with existing apps. Murena running on the Fairphone doesn't have these drawbacks. It's basically Android, but with more privacy features and Google's cloud services swapped out for Nextcloud. The Fairphone is far from under powered, in fact it's sporting approximately the same CPU and memory as my laptop and is pleasantly fast.
I had a little trouble getting the device to charge from a computer's USB port, but otherwise the experience was fantastic. The phone is fast, we have access to virtually all the apps in the Android ecosystem, and I like that F-Droid is enabled by default.
I also like the Murena cloud services. They're optional and opt-in, making them non-invasive. I appreciated being able to synchronize all my devices - sharing tasks, contacts, and files.
Finally, I really appreciate that this phone feels like a phone and computing device that is designed to be useful for me rather than an advertising platform for a large company. Whenever I have the misfortune to use other people's Android phones or iPhones, I always feel as though the goal is to see how much the device can annoy me before I stop using it. The pop-ups, the ads, the nagging prompts to enable things on those phones are frustrating and time consuming. This phone feels like it is there to make my life easier, and its repairable nature means it can continue to do so for the next five years without requiring me to buy another device.
In short, I think Murena's Fairphone offering is a solid product. It's a decent price, offers the power and flexibility of Android, with an added set of privacy protecting tools. Plus the phone is repairable and the software is supported for five years. This makes the device ideal for people who are environmentally or privacy focused as well as people who would like to keep their devices running for longer periods of time rather than upgrade steadily.
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Visitor supplied rating
Murena has a visitor supplied average rating of: 8.5/10 from 15 review(s).
Have you used Murena? You can leave your own review of the project on our ratings page.
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| Miscellaneous News (by Jesse Smith) |
Redox OS considers borrowing drivers from Linux, Debian updates install media for Bookworm
One Summer of Code contributor to Redox OS, a modern, open source operating system which is not in the Linux or BSD families, has put forward an interesting idea to greatly expand application and driver support for the young operating system. "The availability of support for various apps and drivers (for various hardware and software) is crucial for the general adoption of any general purpose operating system like Redox OS. Some of us developers are working on improving the core of Redox OS (like the Kernel), which should create a solid base on which high quality native drivers and apps can be created with ease. Some others are working on porting (and adapting) various open source drivers and apps (written for other OSes) such that they can work with Redox OS. This work is super important and helps Redox OS progress forward.
But in the meanwhile, there's a potential shortcut to enabling wide driver and app support for Redox OS, without having to manually port and adapt drivers to Redox OS. (which can be helpful, both today and in the future). The shortcut, in simple words, is to use our host machine running Redox OS, to run a virtual machine (VM) that will run another OS (like Linux or Windows) as the guest, and we then cleverly use the drivers and apps that can run on that guest OS to help cover up for the missing drivers and apps on Redox OS." The plan goes into further details and mentions other situations where similar approaches have worked.
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Just over a month after the release of Debian 12 "Bookworm", the Debian project has published updated install media labelled 12.1. The new media provides package fixes for Debian 12, but is not a new version of the distribution. The project's announcement states: "The Debian project is pleased to announce the first update of its stable distribution Debian 12 (codename bookworm). This point release mainly adds corrections for security issues, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories have already been published separately and are referenced where available. Please note that the point release does not constitute a new version of Debian 12 but only updates some of the packages included."
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These and other news stories can be found on our Headlines page.
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| Questions and Answers (by Jesse Smith) |
Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing
Playing-in-the-sand asks: Which package format offers better sandboxing, Flatpak or Snap?
DistroWatch answers: One of the attractive features both Snap and Flatpak packages offer is the ability to place running applications in a sandbox. What this means is the application has limits on the sorts of actions it can perform and the information it can access. The application can try to do whatever it wants, within the boundaries of the "sandbox". Anything outside of the sandbox is inaccessible to the application.
The Flatpak and Snap technologies each provide methods for limiting what their packages can do. For example, we can prevent a Snap or Flatpak package from being able to play sound, access files in certain locations, display information on the desktop, or communicate with other applications we are running on the desktop.
While it is technically possible to set sandbox limits on both portable package types from the command line, the syntax is not particularly intuitive and the official documentation for both package formats is less than ideal in terms of practical examples. For this reason, users of Flatpak and Snap packages will usually make use of graphical, point-and-click utilities which make it easy to set limits on applications.
For Flatpak users sandboxing is typically accomplished with the Flatseal application, itself available as a Flatpak. The Flatseal application displays installed Flatpak packages down the left side of its window. Over on the right is a long list of permissions we can grant or deny for the selected application.
The list is long and sometimes subtle. For example, we might toggle off the ability for an application to play sound and be surprised when it can still produce audio. However, a closer inspection will reveal the application could still send audio data to PulseAudio to be played, so we need to disable that option too. In other words, the Flatseal interface is straight forward, but the interconnected pieces of the many security options might not be immediately obvious.
Locking down Flatpak permissions with Flatseal on Debian
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People using Snap packages will likely find the easiest way to adjust permissions is through the Software application. Snap integrates automatically with the software centre on Ubuntu and related distributions. When we install an application or visit its information page within the software centre, a button near the top of the page labelled Permissions appears. Clicking this button pops up a window where we can toggle sandbox permissions for the selected application.
The list of Snap permissions is shorter than those presented by Flatseal, but I find the options are labelled well and are, perhaps, more clear in their meaning. The labels next to each toggle are displayed in what I would consider to be more clear language. On Flatseal, for example, we will see options like "Fallback to X11 windowing system" or "PulseAudio sound server" while for Snap we see options like "Play audio" and "Access files in your home folder". The latter feels more easy to understand with less technical knowledge while Flathub's long list of options perhaps affords more flexibility.
Adjusting Snap permissions with the software centre on Ubuntu
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The original question asked which package format offers "better" sandboxing, but didn't specify better in what way. Both Snap and Flatpak offer sandboxing, both offer fairly fine-tuned controls, both can be handled using command line and graphical desktop utilities. Both work, helping to isolate applications and protect privacy. Personally, I find the Snap options easier to understand and I think they're more beginner-oriented. On the other hand, Flatseal is nice in that it doesn't rely on a specific software centre and it offers more fine-grained permissions.
Both formats offer flexible, powerful sandboxing. Both sandboxes offer similar capabilities to limit applications. I think which one is more attractive is a matter of personal taste rather than technical merit.
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Additional answers can be found in our Questions and Answers archive.
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| Released Last Week |
Whonix 17
Patrick Schleizer has announced the release of Whonix 17, a major update of the project's Debian-based distribution designed for advanced security and privacy via its fail-safe, automatic and desktop-wide use of the Tor network. Whonix uses a heavily reconfigured Debian base inside multiple virtual machines, thus providing a substantial layer of protection from malware and IP address leaks. It is designed to be run inside a virtual machine. This is the distribution's first stable release based on Debian 12: "Whonix 17 has been released. Major changes: port to Debian 12 'Bookworm'; update Tor Browser to 12.5.1; use Tor packages from Debian stable instead of Tor Project repository; enable zsh by default for new builds (might get reverted depending on ticket Qubes-Whonix issue 8343; replacing initramfs-tools with Dracut; renamed Qubes templates; renamed 'whonix-gw-16' to 'whonix-gateway-17' and 'whonix-ws-16' to 'whonix-workstation-17'; stop using abbreviations for Whonix templates issue 1778." See the release announcement for further information, upgrade instructions and known issues.
Neptune 8.0
Neptune is a GNU/Linux distribution for desktops. It is based on Debian's Stable branch. The project has released Neptune version 8.0 which is based on Debian 12 and which features version 6.1 of the Linux kernel. The project's release announcement reads: "We are proud to announce the release of Neptune 8.0 (Juna). This is the first major release of version 8.0 based on Debian 12 (Bookworm). This version comes with the latest major underlying changes from Debian 12 (Bookworm). The Linux kernel has been updated to Version 6.1 to provide support for new hardware and better compatibility with current hardware. Additionally, KDE Plasma has been upgraded to version 5.27 along with all KDE applications present in version 22.12.3. In Neptune 8.0, we rely entirely on the software management of Plasma Discover, which is now mature enough for us to provide it with Flatpak support and the Flathub repository. As a result, the package management tool Muon has been removed. Other software updates include Chromium 115 as well as Thunderbird 102 and VLC 3.0.18."
Neptune 8.0 -- Running the KDE Plasma desktop
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Network Security Toolkit 38-13644
Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a bootable live disc based on the Fedora distribution. The toolkit was designed to provide easy access to best-of-breed open source network security applications. The fistribution's latest release is based on Fedora 38. The release announcement appears on the project's home page: "We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: NST 38 SVN:13644. This release is based on Fedora 38 using Linux kernel: kernel-6.3.12-200.fc38.x86_64. This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 38. This is mostly a maintenance release with improved NST WUI functionality. Below is a summary of the feature improvements included in this release: Access to the Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner (OpenVAS) and Greenbone Vulnerability Management (Greenbone GVM) has been refactored to run as a docker container providing the full-featured vulnerability scanner. The latest Greenbone Community Edition container is used. An acceleration overlay and control was added to the geolocation of Dash Cam videos. See the graphic below: NST Map Data Layer - Dash Cam Track With Acceleration Overlay. The NST WUI ARP Scan has been enhanced to support the configured Name Service (NS) switch hosts resolver. An article on NST WUI ARP Scan usage can be found here. As always, the networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version which can be found in the manifest."
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Development, unannounced and minor bug-fix releases
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| Torrent Corner |
Weekly Torrents
The table below provides a list of torrents DistroWatch is currently seeding. If you do not have a bittorrent client capable of handling the linked files, we suggest installing either the Transmission or KTorrent bittorrent clients.
Archives of our previously seeded torrents may be found in our Torrent Archive. We also maintain a Torrents RSS feed for people who wish to have open source torrents delivered to them. To share your own open source torrents of Linux and BSD projects, please visit our Upload Torrents page.
Torrent Corner statistics:
- Total torrents seeded: 2,890
- Total data uploaded: 43.4TB
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| Upcoming Releases and Announcements |
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Summary of expected upcoming releases
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| Opinion Poll (by Jesse Smith) |
Do you adjust Snap or Flatpak sandboxing settings?
In this week's Questions and Answers column we talked about sandboxing Snap and Flatpak applications using convenient, graphical user interfaces. We'd like to hear if you make use of sandboxing utilities to lock down your portable applications.
You can see the results of our previous poll on linking together multiple devices with KDE Connect in last week's edition. All previous poll results can be found in our poll archives.
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Do you use sandboxing tools with Snap or Flatpak?
| Yes - I use GUI sandboxing tools: | 150 (11%) |
| Yes - I use command line sandboxing tools: | 25 (2%) |
| No - but I do use Flatpak or Snap: | 440 (32%) |
| No - I do not use Flatpak/Snap: | 758 (55%) |
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| Website News |
DistroWatch database summary
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This concludes this week's issue of DistroWatch Weekly. The next instalment will be published on Monday, 31 July 2023. Past articles and reviews can be found through our Weekly Archive and Article Search pages. To contact the authors please send e-mail to:
- Jesse Smith (feedback, questions and suggestions: distribution reviews/submissions, questions and answers, tips and tricks)
- Ladislav Bodnar (feedback, questions, donations, comments)
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| Archives |
| • Issue 1048 (2023-12-04): openSUSE MicroOS, the transition from X11 to Wayland, Red Hat phasing out X11 packages, UBports making mobile development easier |
| • Issue 1047 (2023-11-27): GhostBSD 23.10.1, Why Linux uses swap when memory is free, Ubuntu Budgie may benefit from Wayland work in Xfce, early issues with FreeBSD 14.0 |
| • Issue 1046 (2023-11-20): Slackel 7.7 "Openbox", restricting CPU usage, Haiku improves font handling and software centre performance, Canonical launches MicroCloud |
| • Issue 1045 (2023-11-13): Fedora 39, how to trust software packages, ReactOS booting with UEFI, elementary OS plans to default to Wayland, Mir gaining ability to split work across video cards |
| • Issue 1044 (2023-11-06): Porteus 5.01, disabling IPv6, applications unique to a Linux distro, Linux merges bcachefs, OpenELA makes source packages available |
| • Issue 1043 (2023-10-30): Murena Two with privacy switches, where old files go when packages are updated, UBports on Volla phones, Mint testing Cinnamon on Wayland, Peppermint releases ARM build |
| • Issue 1042 (2023-10-23): Ubuntu Cinnamon compared with Linux Mint, extending battery life on Linux, Debian resumes /usr merge, Canonical publishes fixed install media |
| • Issue 1041 (2023-10-16): FydeOS 17.0, Dr.Parted 23.09, changing UIDs, Fedora partners with Slimbook, GNOME phasing out X11 sessions, Ubuntu revokes 23.10 install media |
| • Issue 1040 (2023-10-09): CROWZ 5.0, changing the location of default directories, Linux Mint updates its Edge edition, Murena crowdfunding new privacy phone, Debian publishes new install media |
| • Issue 1039 (2023-10-02): Zenwalk Current, finding the duration of media files, Peppermint OS tries out new edition, COSMIC gains new features, Canonical reports on security incident in Snap store |
| • Issue 1038 (2023-09-25): Mageia 9, trouble-shooting launchers, running desktop Linux in the cloud, New documentation for Nix, Linux phasing out ReiserFS, GNU celebrates 40 years |
| • Issue 1037 (2023-09-18): Bodhi Linux 7.0.0, finding specific distros and unified package managemnt, Zevenet replaced by two new forks, openSUSE introduces Slowroll branch, Fedora considering dropping Plasma X11 session |
| • Issue 1036 (2023-09-11): SDesk 2023.08.12, hiding command line passwords, openSUSE shares contributor survery results, Ubuntu plans seamless disk encryption, GNOME 45 to break extension compatibility |
| • Issue 1035 (2023-09-04): Debian GNU/Hurd 2023, PCLinuxOS 2023.07, do home users need a firewall, AlmaLinux introduces new repositories, Rocky Linux commits to RHEL compatibility, NetBSD machine runs unattended for nine years, Armbian runs wallpaper contest |
| • Issue 1034 (2023-08-28): Void 20230628, types of memory usage, FreeBSD receives port of Linux NVIDIA driver, Fedora plans improved theme handling for Qt applications, Canonical's plans for Ubuntu |
| • Issue 1033 (2023-08-21): MiniOS 20230606, system user accounts, how Red Hat clones are moving forward, Haiku improves WINE performance, Debian turns 30 |
| • Issue 1032 (2023-08-14): MX Linux 23, positioning new windows on the desktop, Linux Containers adopts LXD fork, Oracle, SUSE, and CIQ form OpenELA |
| • Issue 1031 (2023-08-07): Peppermint OS 2023-07-01, preventing a file from being changed, Asahi Linux partners with Fedora, Linux Mint plans new releases |
| • Issue 1030 (2023-07-31): Solus 4.4, Linux Mint 21.2, Debian introduces RISC-V support, Ubuntu patches custom kernel bugs, FreeBSD imports OpenSSL 3 |
| • Issue 1029 (2023-07-24): Running Murena on the Fairphone 4, Flatpak vs Snap sandboxing technologies, Redox OS plans to borrow Linux drivers to expand hardware support, Debian updates Bookworm media |
| • Issue 1028 (2023-07-17): KDE Connect; Oracle, SUSE, and AlmaLinux repsond to Red Hat's source code policy change, KaOS issues media fix, Slackware turns 30; security and immutable distributions |
| • Issue 1027 (2023-07-10): Crystal Linux 2023-03-16, StartOS (embassyOS 0.3.4.2), changing options on a mounted filesystem, Murena launches Fairphone 4 in North America, Fedora debates telemetry for desktop team |
| • Issue 1026 (2023-07-03): Kumander Linux 1.0, Red Hat changing its approach to sharing source code, TrueNAS offers SMB Multichannel, Zorin OS introduces upgrade utility |
| • Issue 1025 (2023-06-26): KaOS with Plasma 6, information which can leak from desktop environments, Red Hat closes door on sharing RHEL source code, SUSE introduces new security features |
| • Issue 1024 (2023-06-19): Debian 12, a safer way to use dd, Debian releases GNU/Hurd 2023, Ubuntu 22.10 nears its end of life, FreeBSD turns 30 |
| • Issue 1023 (2023-06-12): openSUSE 15.5 Leap, the differences between independent distributions, openSUSE lengthens Leap life, Murena offers new phone for North America |
| • Issue 1022 (2023-06-05): GetFreeOS 2023.05.01, Slint 15.0-3, Liya N4Si, cleaning up crowded directories, Ubuntu plans Snap-based variant, Red Hat dropping LireOffice RPM packages |
| • Issue 1021 (2023-05-29): rlxos GNU/Linux, colours in command line output, an overview of Void's unique features, how to use awk, Microsoft publishes a Linux distro |
| • Issue 1020 (2023-05-22): UBports 20.04, finding another machine's IP address, finding distros with a specific kernel, Debian prepares for Bookworm |
| • Issue 1019 (2023-05-15): Rhino Linux (Beta), checking which applications reply on a package, NethServer reborn, System76 improving application responsiveness |
| • Issue 1018 (2023-05-08): Fedora 38, finding relevant manual pages, merging audio files, Fedora plans new immutable edition, Mint works to fix Secure Boot issues |
| • Issue 1017 (2023-05-01): Xubuntu 23.04, Debian elects Project Leaders and updates media, systemd to speed up restarts, Guix System offering ground-up source builds, where package managers install files |
| • Issue 1016 (2023-04-24): Qubes OS 4.1.2, tracking bandwidth usage, Solus resuming development, FreeBSD publishes status report, KaOS offers preview of Plasma 6 |
| • Issue 1015 (2023-04-17): Manjaro Linux 22.0, Trisquel GNU/Linux 11.0, Arch Linux powering PINE64 tablets, Ubuntu offering live patching on HWE kernels, gaining compression on ex4 |
| • Issue 1014 (2023-04-10): Quick looks at carbonOS, LibreELEC, and Kodi, Mint polishes themes, Fedora rolls out more encryption plans, elementary OS improves sideloading experience |
| • Issue 1013 (2023-04-03): Alpine Linux 3.17.2, printing manual pages, Ubuntu Cinnamon becomes official flavour, Endeavour OS plans for new installer, HardenedBSD plans for outage |
| • Issue 1012 (2023-03-27): siduction 22.1.1, protecting privacy from proprietary applications, GNOME team shares new features, Canonical updates Ubuntu 20.04, politics and the Linux kernel |
| • Issue 1011 (2023-03-20): Serpent OS, Security Onion 2.3, Gentoo Live, replacing the scp utility, openSUSE sees surge in downloads, Debian runs elction with one candidate |
| • Issue 1010 (2023-03-13): blendOS 2023.01.26, keeping track of which files a package installs, improved network widget coming to elementary OS, Vanilla OS changes its base distro |
| • Issue 1009 (2023-03-06): Nemo Mobile and the PinePhone, matching the performance of one distro on another, Linux Mint adds performance boosts and security, custom Ubuntu and Debian builds through Cubic |
| • Issue 1008 (2023-02-27): elementary OS 7.0, the benefits of boot environments, Purism offers lapdock for Librem 5, Ubuntu community flavours directed to drop Flatpak support for Snap |
| • Issue 1007 (2023-02-20): helloSystem 0.8.0, underrated distributions, Solus team working to repair their website, SUSE testing Micro edition, Canonical publishes real-time edition of Ubuntu 22.04 |
| • Issue 1006 (2023-02-13): Playing music with UBports on a PinePhone, quick command line and shell scripting questions, Fedora expands third-party software support, Vanilla OS adds Nix package support |
| • Issue 1005 (2023-02-06): NuTyX 22.12.0 running CDE, user identification numbers, Pop!_OS shares COSMIC progress, Mint makes keyboard and mouse options more accessible |
| • Issue 1004 (2023-01-30): OpenMandriva ROME, checking the health of a disk, Debian adopting OpenSnitch, FreeBSD publishes status report |
| • Issue 1003 (2023-01-23): risiOS 37, mixing package types, Fedora seeks installer feedback, Sparky offers easier persistence with USB writer |
| • Issue 1002 (2023-01-16): Vanilla OS 22.10, Nobara Project 37, verifying torrent downloads, Haiku improvements, HAMMER2 being ports to NetBSD |
| • Issue 1001 (2023-01-09): Arch Linux, Ubuntu tests new system installer, porting KDE software to OpenBSD, verifying files copied properly |
| • Issue 1000 (2023-01-02): Our favourite projects of all time, Fedora trying out unified kernel images and trying to speed up shutdowns, Slackware tests new kernel, detecting what is taking up disk space |
| • Issue 999 (2022-12-19): Favourite distributions of 2022, Fedora plans Budgie spin, UBports releasing security patches for 16.04, Haiku working on new ports |
| • Issue 998 (2022-12-12): OpenBSD 7.2, Asahi Linux enages video hardware acceleration on Apple ARM computers, Manjaro drops proprietary codecs from Mesa package |
| • Issue 997 (2022-12-05): CachyOS 221023 and AgarimOS, working with filenames which contain special characters, elementary OS team fixes delta updates, new features coming to Xfce |
| • Issue 996 (2022-11-28): Void 20221001, remotely shutting down a machine, complex aliases, Fedora tests new web-based installer, Refox OS running on real hardware |
| • Issue 995 (2022-11-21): Fedora 37, swap files vs swap partitions, Unity running on Arch, UBports seeks testers, Murena adds support for more devices |
| • Issue 994 (2022-11-14): Redcore Linux 2201, changing the terminal font size, Fedora plans Phosh spin, openSUSE publishes on-line manual pages, disabling Snap auto-updates |
| • Full list of all issues |
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"Immunix" was a family of tools designed to enhance system integrity by hardening system components and platforms against security attacks. Immunix secures a Linux OS and applications. Immunix works by hardening existing software components and platforms so that attempts to exploit security vulnerabilities will fail safe, i.e. the compromised process halts instead of giving control to the attacker, and then was restarted. The software components are effectively "laminated" with Immunix technologies to harden them against attack.
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